Sanji has always been my least favourite Straw Hat ever since he joined the crew. His fighting style is the most 'mainstream' out of all the Straw Hats, his 'humour' scenes are painfully repetitive, and he suffers from annoying personality traits.
Most telling of which is his complete and utter infatuation over pretty woman.
It's been no big secret that any pretty lass could have him wrapped around her, and done right, this could have been a endearing personality trait, it's just become increasingly annoying.
The high-point of this idiocy occured when I finally got around to reading the scanlations of Chpt. 403.
For those not in the know, the title of the Chapter is 'Mr Chivalry', and the first half features Sanji getting the crap kicked out of him by Califa during their battle. Although frankly, 'battle' is a complete misnomer as the fight largely consisted of Califa taunting him and attacking his crotch region while he reined in his attacks at the last moment or otherwise deliberately missed with them.
Later on, he groans to Nami that he has been taught since young 'never to hit a woman'. I suppose such a lesson may have been imprinted in him, but assuming that reason is why he never hit Califa is complete and utter bullshit.
Case study 1: Immediately post-Whiskey Peak, Nico Robin pops up under the moniker of Miss All-Sunday. Sanji is perfectly willing to aim a gun at her head (because she was threatening Vivi) until he gets shoved into a position where he can take a good look at her face. Whereupon he goes into 'infautation mode', and makes no further threat to her for the rest of the scene.
Case Study 2: During the Arabasta arc, Sanji faces off against Mr. 2. The fights more or less in his favour, until Bon Clay decides to turn into Sanji's nakama in hopes it would deter him from attacking. Sanji smashes Usopp's face without so much as an eyeblink, but is completely paralysed upon Mr. 2's transformation into Nami. This hold significance, because Mr. 2 Bon Clay is most certainly NOT a woman. An okama perhaps, but not a woman.
Add these two up (among with a few other scenes I could mention), and the sum result is not the fact that Sanji can't fight women, it's that he can't fight pretty ones. (Does anyone really believe he would have the slightest issue with beating up Miss Merry Christmas?) The driving force behind these actions aren't his chivalry, it's his libido.
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Now, some people I know claim that this is a moral conviction, but that is patently untrue. In the Arlong arc, he has just heard from Johnny that Nami has killed Usopp, a nakama. Later, he hears direct confirmation from Nami herself that, yes, she has killed Usopp. Zoro draws his sword to attack her, and Sanji immediately leaps to defend a woman whom he barely knows, and for all intents and purposes at that instant, is a murderer. His sole reason for refusing to let Zoro strike is because 'she's a woman' (and a pretty one, at that). That has absolutely nothing to do with morals.
Next, some people claim that it's something built 'into his heart and dreams' such as Luffy's claim that 'Even if I die, my dream is to be Pirate King' and Zoro's 'Even if I die, I will never quit my path to become the world's greatest swordsman'.
Sanji's 'Even if I die, I will never hit a (pretty) woman' conviction however, falls woefully short of that ideal. Just look at the two examples given. What do they have in common? It's about breaking limits, and pushing yourself to be the best you can possibly be. What about Sanji's? It's about limiting yourself and making yourself cannon fodder for any pretty girl that happens to be fighting you. WTF? Thus, it's a character flaw, and a pretty blatant one, at that.
Well, if that's the case, why aren't I ragging on other character flaws, like Zoro's complete lack of direction, or Chopper's gullibility? Because those show up in moments clearly intended for humour, and these flaws have very little to do with whether or not we really like a character. (And besides, in my eyes, watching Zoro run in the completely wrong direction for the thousandth time is getting old.)
Other character flaws, such as Usopp's cowardice, play an important dynamic in battles. Usopp is a coward. He runs away from plenty of battles. But when the chips are down, when push comes to shove, he knows how to overcome his fear and take a stand, even if he gets brutalized in the process. The Tag Team battle with Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas proved this. The latest arc also proved that for the sake of Nakama, Usopp can make a physical choice to conquer his debilitating cowardice and fight.
Sanji, however, cannot. He tries. Oh, he tries. But the fact of the matter is that he can't bring himself to do it. Not for the sake of Nakama. Not for the sake of his dreams. He just can't do it. In a manga like One Piece, in which Nakama are emphasized, Sanji's inability to let go of personal weakness for the sake of nakama is painfully jarring.
One could say that this should lead me to empathise or sympathise with him. Maybe - if this blasted shtick hadn't been completely glossed over. Sanji failed against a guy who looked like a girl. Why should we have had any reason to believe he would succeed with a real woman? Oda's neglect of exactly WHY Sanji can't hit a woman is my real beef. I was originally pissed that Sanji would be idiotic enough to give Don Krieg food, but after it was explained in the flashback, I grew to respect him for that act. It was a trait borne of what he had to go through in order to become the person he was.
Sanji's lust, however, has been looked over, despite numerous opportunities for Oda to tell us (Never mind the fact that it'd be pretty damn difficult for Oda to work in why Sanji only refuses to attack pretty women or people who resemble them enough). Until he does, that trait remains an unexplained irritant in my view.
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